Needed: Virpil Collective Friction Mod

[Kirk66]

Any smart guys out there, could you come up with an external manual friction mod for the Virpil Collective base? It would be nice to be able to set the friction loose for takeoff and landing/hovering, then tighten it up for cruise flight. Looking at the hardware, it seems an external knob on the Left side of the base, working on the existing shaft cover, might be doable?

Preferably not requiring any changes to the existing Virpil hardware, of course, but I'm not adverse to some drilling of holes if necessary...

I'm visualizing something acting via the large center bolt, has a knob that can be adjusted to increase or decrease friction in addition to the default (internal) preset friction, which would be the baseline friction.

This kind of external collective friction is present on just about all actual helicopter collective controls.

Comments?

Vulture

[Kirk66]

Playing with my collective, the case rotates with the collective handle, but the big bolt and round cover do not.  So some sort of coaxial clamp working on the inside or outside of the housing cover would work? It would not need a lot of clamping force or friction, just enough to make the collective a bit stiffer in cruise so it would not move when just resting your hand on it.

 

[Blackrat_UK]

I fitted the virpil spring and it works a treat, no drop in the cruise at all.

 

VIRPIL UK | VPC Rotor Counter-Balance Kit